HP Photosmart c4780 driver software won't install on windows 7

I have a windows 7 64-bit OS and I'm trying to install the printer software. The software initially starts and at the point where it checks for updates it just disappears. I see nothing in task manager leading me to believe it has just shut itself down. The first time I tried to install the software it actually hung up at this point and I used task manager to close it down. Since then it just disappears. I have also tried to install the drivers manually but there are no C4700 photosmart printers under Hewlett Packard or HP when you go that route in Windows. I also looked on the HP website but all they provide is the full software download. Needless to say I cannot print with this PC because Windows does not recognize it when you plug in the USB, let alone via wireless. Interestingly, the HP network utility found the printer no problem and then pointed to the same software that keeps crashing for installing the drivers. Any ideas on what I can do? I've tried everything HP lists under troubleshooting to no avail with the last suggestion being to post on this forum.

Dont use the HP installer, Extract the downloaded files, then when the installer autoruns, close it.

Navigate to the extracted folder containing the extracted setup files (usually a temp folder) if you cant find it search in windows explorer for "datecreated:02/11/2011"(todays date) or the current date in the format your machine uses, then scroll through the few thousand files untill you spot the one called setup.exe (should be at the top as they are sorted by time most recent) and you can identify the folder from there.

Then use the windows add new hardware feature to install the driver by selecting this location as the source for the driver. This also saves you installing the HP printing bloatware with your driver.

You may also wish to check that the service "Spooler" is running and not disabled, you can do this by right clicking the start menu, selecting task manager and going to the services tab.